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42 Random Bits of Trivia to Print, Frame and Hang Behind Your Desk As A Not-So-Humble Brag

Facts to proudly regurgitate for years to come

42 Random Bits of Trivia to Print, Frame and Hang Behind Your Desk As A Not-So-Humble Brag

October 10, 2024

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All you have to do is soak up these facts and stand beside us as we look down on those who haven’t learned what we just did. It’s great. We’re a little queasy from altitude sickness, but we can tough through anything when it comes to smugness.

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42

Benedict Cumberbatch

THOR BTS FACTS AND EASTER EGGS THOR: THE DARK WORLD BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH TURNED DOWN A PART. Cumberbatch politely declined to portray Malekith, saying he'd rather hold out for something a bit more juicy. The gamble paid off, and he got the role of Doctor Strange years later. CRACKED.COM — Source: Yahoo

41

Fearmongering 101.

In the early 1900s, cannabis was given the nickname the devil's lettuce by government officials. The first head of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (now the DEA) wanted to make people scared of using cannabis. CRACKED — Le Giga/Shutterstock,
RBLLZ/Shutterstock
Weedmaps

40

Vince Vaughn

CRACKED.COM celebrities who play D&D vince vaughn Vaughn played in his youth, but got back when Tom Morello invited him into Joe Manganiello's regular game. — Sources: The A.V. Club, Variety/YouTube

39

Shrek 2

COMEDY NERD CRACKED.COM THE FAIRY GODMOTHER'S LOVE POTION IN SHREK 2 HAS A CLEVER DETAIL. IX It has the roman numeral IX-which is apparently a reference to Love Potion No. 9, which is both a hit song and a 1992 rom-com. — Source

38

Pretty Woman

Early drafts of movies Pretty Woman It was a serious, dark drama. J. F. Lawton was writing ninja movies when he penned this script called $3,000. Disney asked him for a lighter rewrite, and surprisingly he made it too light. Other writers were then asked to find the sweet spot and fix the melancholic ending. CRACKED.COM — Source

37

CRACKED.COM THE RULED THE T. REX TOTALLY RULES THE ENDING OF JURASSIC PARK. HOWEVER... THAT WAS AN AFTERTHOUGHT. The scripted ending had Grant and Hammond killing the raptors themselves. Then Spielberg realized that the Rex just had to come back. — Source

36

The Beatles' Help! had an unusual dedication. THIS fILM IS RESPECTfULLY dEdICATED TO THE MEMORY of MR. ELIAS HOWE, who IN 1846, INVENTED THE SEWING MACHINE Were the filmmakers truly inspired, think it was funny, or (the most likely answer) were they high? CRACKED.COM — Source

35

CRACKED HAPPLE APPLE NL NATURAL UNISTRAWBERRY EACH TEA onapp Mine MON TEA adidas instruction Snapple i NATURAL - NET NATURAL MANGO MADNESS napp ( Snapple & e NATURAL C apple Lee's need ALEXA US Master LAKER E - RED names : - aanes BEE MG I BLE QUAKER Quaker Oats Co. agreed to sell Snapple Beverage Corp. to Triarc Cos. for $300 million, only 27 months after Quaker spent $1.7 billion to buy the maker of trendy drinks, resulting in a loss of $1.4 billion for Quaker. — Source

34

CRACKED Weinerville -Netscape 5 x File Edit View Go Communicator Help My N Back Forward Reload Home Search Netscape Print Security Stop Bookmarks Location: http://www.geocities. s.com/Heartland/Meadows/7322/ Welcome to Wienerville Where dachshunds will walk all over your heart YAHOO! Yahoo purchased Geocities in 1999 for over $4 billion, but the acquisition was ultimately unsuccessful and the site was shut down in 2009. — Source

33

32

Paul Walker

PAUL WALKER was partly digital in his final film FURIOUS 7 CRACKED.COM It took state-of-the-art 2013 CGI (and Walker's brothers as stand-ins) to complete Walker's final performance. Amazingly, missing dialogue was pieced together from the actor's previously recorded lines. — Source

31

Film Firsts

Historical Firsts in Practical Effects Hg1 Frank Williams: Grandfather 1916 of the green screen 5 Fig.2. 6 Williams' traveling matte system shot actors or vehicles against a black background and isolated them to be placed on other moving images. It could only work in black and white, but is a direct precursor of blue/green screen technology. CRACKED — Source

30

Shawarma: The Avengers’ unexpected gift to the world.

THE AVENGERS Shawarma The Avengers really got people interested in shawarma, a Middle Eastern wrap. Restaurants saw an 80% jump in sales, and lots of people wanted to make the wrap at home. CRACKED — Marvel Studios,
I A Scrabble/Shutterstock
Mashed

29

Robocop

The Robocop writer got the idea by working his a*s off on the Blade Runner set. Edward Neumeier worked in the Blade Runner art department, making garbage for the futuristic street scenes, and got to watch Ridley Scott direct the movie. After four straight nights of that, pulling shifts after his day job, the title RoboCop and the main character (in a bluish armored thing) flashed into his mind. CRACKED.COM — Source: 16 Movies That Owe Their Existence To Other Films

28

Hemsworth Brothers

THOR BTS FACTS AND EASTER EGGS THOR CHRIS AND LIAM HEMSWORTH BOTH AUDITIONED FOR THOR. Not only did both brothers vie for the same part - Liam was at one point actually closer to getting the role than Chris. In the end, the producers asked Chris to come back to become the Thor we know today. CRACKED.COM — Source: The Graham Norton Show/YouTube

27

Cats pay attention to our emotions In one study, 79% of cats changed their behavior with an unfamiliar object based on their owner's emotional response to it. CRACKED.COM — Source: 14 Cat Facts To Make Your Brain Purr

26

The Soviets used anti-tank dogs to covertly blow stuff up. CRACKED.COM The Soviet and Russian military from 1930-1996 trained dogs to carry explosives to targets that were too dangerous to risk human life. Initially, the dogs were trained to drop the bombs off and run back to their master, but eventually the Russian forces said actually, who cares, they're dogs and used them more as suicide-bombers. — Source: Gizmodo

25

JOE NAMATH MARRIED WITH CHILDREN CRAGKEDCOM The Jets legend plays himself as a bartender -- with no explanation as to why he's now employed as a barte — YouTube

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24

Bill Watterson and Berkeley Breathed have a long history of roasting each other via comic. VS Things got... surprisingly blue. Here's some Bill Watter — Source

23

This photo of a burning town hall in Wem, England, shows a ghostly little girl. A former president of the Royal Photographic Society said the photo wa

22

42 Random Bits of Trivia to Print, Frame and Hang Behind Your Desk As A Not-So-Humble Brag

21

CRACKEDc One of the COM bounty hunters in The Empire Strikes Back... ...seems to have stolen his suit from these astronauts in an old Doctor Who episo

20

Home Alone 2

The luggage tag CARD IDENTIFICATION me PETER McCALLiSTER on Kevin's bag in Home Alone 2 dress 671 LiNCaN BLUA State ILL WINNETKA in JK5-1658 DE Back Page features the real-life address of the house used in the movies. CRACKED COM — Source

19

Biggest Losing Streak D1 FOOTBALL DUAMIT CRACKED.COM The Prairie View A&M Panthers didn't taste victory for nearly a decade. They lost 80 straight games from 1989 to 1998. — Source

18

Adult Jokes in Children's Entertainment The Flintstones Barney's New Head While looking for a costume, Fred makes a joke about Barney getting a costume with a second head. Barney jokes back, Why do I need three of 'em? CRACKED.COM — Source

17

Idina Menzel

Idina Menzel was credited as Adele Dazeem in a playbill. AT THIS PERFORMANCE THE ROLE OF ELIZABETH WILL BE PLAYED BY ADELE DAZEEM After John Travolta famously butchered her name, the Broadway show If/Then (which starred Menzel) made a nod to the mispronunciation. CRACKED.COM — Source

16

In 2002, McDonald's Norway released the M MCAFRIKA. It was a McAfrika DISASTER. It came at Fra kr. 32,- a time when many African countries were facing MASS FAMINE. Following a backlash, McDonald's allowed some locations to have donation boxes for humanitarian efforts. GRAGKED.COM — Source

15

Timothy’s World Coffee

In 2011, Timothy's World Coffee ran a campaign asking people to Like their Facebook page and receive four boxes of their single-serve coffee (which contains 24 packs in each box). WORLD Timothy's COFFEE Their stock of said boxes was depleted in just three days, and it took them more than two weeks to amend the terms that it would be on a first-come, first-served basis. CRACKED.COM — Source

14

IN 1994, COCA-COLA TRIED TO APPEAL TO GEN XERS WITH OK SODA, DISTINGUISHED MORE BY ITS DRAB, GRIM CAN DESIGNS THAN BY ITS ODD, CITRUSY TASTE - OK. WHICH REALLY 12 FL OZ (355 mL) WAS JUST (355 A CARBONATED BEVERAGE OF OK- CONCEPT 12 HAR MA DON'T BE FOOLED INTO THINK E OK. OK® III. WHAT'S THE POINT OK AMEPHING DBE NYTHING THAT IS NOT HNG THAT IS. TINK OF OTHER PEOPLE i A I I I | I 1 PAR MARKABLE ABILITIES ESCOMATED BEVERAGE 12 FL OZ (355 mL) CARBONATED BEVERAGE 12 FL OZ RAPPENED 2 MARKET TESTS WERE A BUST, — Source

13

JOHN WAYNE had terminal cancer, on and off screen THE SHOOTIST GRAGKED.COM After his movie doctor tells Wayne getting shot would be a better way to go than cancer, Wayne invites three rivals to finish him off. In real life, Wayne presented the Best Picture Oscar before giving in to stomach cancer two months later. — Source

12

MARILYN MONROE shared a final film with CLARK GABLE THE MISFITS CRACKED.COM Gable had a massive heart attack two days after the film wrapped. Monroe overdosed 18 months later. The Misfits arguably featured Monroe's finest performance, earning her a Golden Globe. — Source

11

ELIZABETH TAYLOR ended her career as a cartoon mom. THE FLINTSTONES CRACKED.COM Appearing as a caricature of her once glamorous self, Taylor battled Fred Flintstone as his battle-axe mother-in-law. Likely not the last performance she wanted inscribed on her, er, tombstone. — Source

10

Hot L Baltimore

Hot L Baltimore 1975 CRACKED.COM George and Gordon were the first gay couple to be shown on TV. The show ran with a disclaimer about 'mature themes.' — Source

9

Ghostbusters

STANT GHOSTBUSTERS Murricane Ghostbusters made the Murricane cocktail popular. It's a mix of bourbon, watermelon, and elderflower, and Dan Aykroyd supposedly gave it the nickname when he served it to Bill Murray. CRACKED — Columbia Pictures
The New York Times

8

Jon Favreau

CRACKED.COM STUDIO RO MORT by Quicken AVENG INFINITY MARVEL NI THE D 2 20 S oz 2 celebrities who play D&D & 14 9 14 R ? 9 Jon Favreau 2 20 V CC 20 1 8 bl 2 14 Favreau was a big geek in high school, C 2 10 20 : 2 20 io 8 2 91 playing as a halfling with his friends. Не credits D&D with helping his improv training and developing movies for Marvel and Disney. — Sources: Jimmy Kimmel Live/YouTube, The Hollywood Reporter

7

N.W.A made it huge N.W.A CRACKED.COM In 1988 The Winstons' Amen Break reached new heights when the infamous N.W.A. used it as a sample in their mega hit Straight Outta Compton. Due to its graphic lyrical content, the song was banned from many radio stations in the 198os. — Source

6

The Lord of the Rings

The Ents in THE LORD OF THE RINGS were inspired by Shakespeare. No, there aren't talking, walking trees in Macbeth - and that pissed off a young J. R. R. Tolkien, who expected that the prophecy about the woods coming against Macbeth's castle became literally true. So years later, he wrote that into his own book. — Source: Tolkien Gateway

5

The most brutal torture lets Mother Nature do all the work. CRACKED.com Bamboo torture involves letting a chute of bamboo grow, over the course of days or weeks, through the body of a suspended victim. Bamboo can grow at 4 cm per hour, and even MythBusters proved it has the ability to work its way through ballistic gel if given time. — Source: "The Other Empire: Literary Views of Japan from the Philippines, Singapore, and Malaysia"

4

42 Random Bits of Trivia to Print, Frame and Hang Behind Your Desk As A Not-So-Humble Brag — Source: Vanity Fair

3

Phobias

42 Random Bits of Trivia to Print, Frame and Hang Behind Your Desk As A Not-So-Humble Brag — Source: Telegraph

2

Antarctica

In 2016, a video showinga a massive unknown creature near Antartica became viral... De The monster, however, just happens to be a particularly large

1

The suit worn by soldiers in Starship Troopers is reused in Firefly as a standard issue for Alliance troops. Starship Troopers (1997) Firefly (2002) C

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